In 3G (third generation mobile phone standard) and L0TE (Long Term Evolution) networks today, each UE (User Equipment) when activated goes through a set of registration and attach procedures with the core network before the end user can make a call or use some other network services. During these activities the UE informs the network of their IMSI number and other specific UE capabilities for this particular UE and get appropriate network identifications that are used for subsequent call establishments.
UEs in today's networks are considered as devices that end users use to access services that the network provides. Such services are voice calls, SMS and MMS and in the high speed 3G networks also services that relates to data access, for instance to email and internet.
The role of the UE is changing, and there is now a possibility to connect new functionality, for instance in form of a separate unit, to the phone. Examples of such separate units are cameras and sensors that can be used in health care. The UE can be used as a personal health check device that can be connected over mobile networks to health professionals to forward them relevant patient's health data. Since the UE also already contains a remote camera, the accessibility by anyone in need of a photo or a video recording of a certain area is another obvious functionality. Other applications are in the areas of sharing music or offering information about the prices and special offers in a shopping mall gathered via a built-in RFID reader.
Another example of such mobile phone functionality is in the area of wireless sensor networks (WSN). When connecting a sensor to the UE, the phone can serve as a sensor network gateway. A WSN comprises distributed autonomous devices that use sensors to monitor conditions, such as temperature, pressure, sound, moving objects and pollutant. WSN are used in many areas such as including environment and habitat monitoring, health monitoring, burglar alarms, automatic meter reading, home automation and other types of Machine to Machine (M2M) type of services.
The various types of sensors will use short range wireless communication (such as Bluetooth) to communicate via a UE to the rest of the world. For example, Bluetooth SIG is standardizing the communication protocol for interaction of health and fitness sensors with an UE, with the intention to allow prolonged health monitoring of mobile subscribers.
As we go towards the future internet, more and more such devices will be introduced (Internet of Things). The only way to inform the backend service providers about the existence, location and availability of such sensors is by using a purposely built user application on an UE. The above problem is not only apparent in mobile phones, but also other devices whole sole intention is to provide sensor communication, such as M2M devices for AMR (Automatic Meter Reading) or security applications that have to depend on purposely built availability schemes built on for instance SMS etc.